I like it when you ramble
by tiana3826
Summary: Cristina's question makes Arizona's mind go into overdrive.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, this is the first of at least 2 parts (more if you guys want them) of this story. It takes place after the shooting and before the start of the season. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!**

**Title: I like it when you ramble  
Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Cristina's innocent question send Arizona's mind into over-drive  
Disclaimer: Everything in the story belongs to Shondaland, I just like to play with the pieces. I own nothing and any mistakes are my own.**

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"Damnit, crap, crap double crap." Arizona groaned as she set the rest of her half spilt coffee on the side table, "this is the worst day ever."

"Well hey there sunshine," smirked Cristina as she sauntered out of her room.

"Yang!" Arizona yelped in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Um, unlike you, I actually live here."

Cristina walked past the stunned blonde and flipped on the coffee maker grabbing two mugs from the cupboard. Handing one to Arizona she continued, "Or do you now? Live here, I mean."

Arizona slid onto one of the bar stools and watched Cristina as she poured a gigantic bowl of cereal. "Umm…" she thought about it; she had been spending a ridiculous amount of time at Callie's apartment since they had gotten back together two months ago—but _technically_ no—she didn't live there. "Not yet," she replied in wonder, more to herself than to Cristina.

"Hmm, cool," Cristina's grunted response was monotone as she made her way back to her bedroom.

"Yeah, cool." Arizona repeated, walking around the island countertop to where the coffee maker was still beeping, "thanks for the coffee by the way."

Cristina raised her hand in response before retreating into her room and closing the door behind her.

"Well that was weird," Arizona mused to herself as she opened up the refrigerator and replaced the creamer in the door.

"What was weird? And why is there a huge puddle right inside the door?" Callie asked making her way into the kitchen wearing only Arizona's worn out college sweatshirt and small pair of boxer shorts. Kissing the top of her girlfriend's head and then her lips, Callie added, "And why are you standing there sopping wet just starring at me."

Arizona smiled slightly and kissed Callie again before speaking, "Good morning, well not exactly 'good' I guess, which is why there is a huge puddle of my day old, re-heated but still gross hospital coffee inside the door, and also not good because I lost two patients before 9am. **Two**, Calliope, which is why I'm here and not still at work, because I left. I told the chief there was an emergency because I couldn't handle another dying child before my lunch break. And when I walked home, it was raining. It wasn't raining right before I left, nope just started pouring as soon as I opened the door and walked outside. Ugh, and I'm supposed to have three more surgeries today and I don't want to do them, because I don't want to lose anything else today. Oh, and then Cristina, Cristina Yang, who has barely left her bedroom, who refuses to go into an OR, and who has not truly smiled since Derek's surgery, asked me about my personal life, _our_ personal life Calliope!"

"Whoa, Arizona," Callie pushed herself away from the counter and set the coffee mug she had been cradling throughout Arizona's speech down behind her. "Baby, you need to breathe. Just take a deep breath and relax, I'm right here with you." She took the blonde into her arms and kissed her temple.

Arizona sighed and snuggled deeper into Callie's shoulder. "I love you," she mumbled almost inaudibly, "So much."

"Hey," Callie said softly, pulling Arizona back a little so she could look at the tear-streaked face of her girlfriend, "I love you too. Always and forever," she added wiping the fallen tears away with her thumbs.

Smiling through her tears Arizona laughed, "God I'm pathetic. And you should know…" Arizona took a breath before quickly spewing out her next sentence, "I was starring at you because even if it is 10 in the morning and your hair is a mess because you just woke up, I still find you the most beautiful person that I've ever laid eyes on."

"Aww, thanks baby, and just so you know you are NOT pathetic. Not even close, you just had a really, really, bad morning." Callie lifted Arizona's head up and kissed her right behind her ear before whispering, "Now go turn on the shower and as soon as I clean up the coffee I'll meet you in there."

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An hour later they were walking hand in hand down the street to their favorite café. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can."

"Before, when you got home, you said that Cristina asked you about our personal life; and you said that something was weird, what happened?"

"Oh that, that was nothing."

Callie stopped walking, and before she realized it Arizona had stopped as well. She pulled on Callie's hand to move again but Callie stood her ground. "Tell me what she said. Please."

After a short pause Arizona reluctantly answered, "She asked if I lived there. Okay?"

"Lived where? The apartment?" Callie asked clearly not understanding the big deal.

"Well yea, where else Calliope." Arizona responded rolling her piercing blue eyes.

"And that's a bad thing? That she wanted to know if you lived there."

"Not _bad _per say, just weird. Cristina Yang doesn't leave the house any more, why should she be worried about me?"

"Well I highly doubt she was worried, she probably just…"

"You know what I mean Calliope." Arizona interrupted. "We haven't even talked about it, yet there is Yang, all non-committal and monotone asking me if I live with her. I just thought it was weird that's all. Maybe it was just the fact that my morning sucked and I was looking to push that on someone else. Or maybe I am worried you know, that this, this 'honeymoon' period we are in is going to come to a crashing halt and our pretty pink bubble is just going to burst. Okay? Maybe I'm just scared." Arizona dropped her hands to her side and looked anywhere but at Callie.

It was true; they hadn't _really_ talked about anything since getting back together. It all just kind of fell back into place; Arizona was back at the apartment every night, her things slowly showing up around the house: her book and reading glasses on the bedside table, her favorite coffee mug from Callie back in the cupboard, her gray and black flannel coat next to Callie's black leather jacket on the rack by the door, and her CranApple juice was back in the fridge. Normal—everything had returned to normal. At least, that is what Callie thought anyway.

"Pretty pink bubble?" Callie looked horrified.

"That's all you got out of that rant?" Arizona asked helplessly.

"No, sweetie, it's not. We will talk about things," Callie recovered after a few seconds. "We can talk it all out, and we can figure out where we are."

The fact of the matter is that Callie was planning to ask Arizona to move in with her after Cristina married Owen next week. She knew that they still had a lot to talk about. A LOT. But she thought they were in a good place, sure she watched Arizona as she slept, but that was normal too right? She had missed her while they had been broken up and she just wanted to make sure it was all real; she truly didn't mean any harm by it. Maybe that is what freaked Arizona out, she caught her one night—just starring—maybe that is what scared her. That had to be it! Maybe she took it the wrong way and thought that Callie was going to break up with her.

"Is this about me watching you sleep?" Callie asked confidently.

Arizona was taken back by the question, "I'm sorry, you, you what now?" She asked with curiosity dancing in her eyes.

"Oh, so not about that then?" Callie laughed to cover up the slightly uncomfortable situation, "Okay, well we can still talk about everything right? I mean I'm happy with you Ari, really happy; I thought you were happy too."

"Of course I'm happy Calliope!" Arizona quickly responded trying to stop Callie from worrying herself sick, she took both of Callie's hands in hers before continuing, "You make me the happiest girl in the world Calliope Torres and nothing is ever going to change that. I'm not scared that we are going to break up, I am just curious where we are headed and how fast we plan on getting there."

Arizona paused to kiss Callie right there in the middle of sidewalk. Neither of them was too keen on public displays of affection but this in case where Arizona was okay with breaking their no PDA rule—she _was_ trying to prove a point after all.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you Calliope, and I'm pretty sure you feel the same way. And we both know that we have a ton of things to discuss—apparently in the very near future for my sake. I just, I guess I just freaked out because I thought that once we got back together you would want to get married and start having kids right away. And although I meant what I said, I'm just not ready—not yet."

Callie took in the sight of her adorably rambling girlfriend and smiled to herself.

"And now you think I'm crazy, awesome." Arizona stopped, "why are you smiling?"

"You are not crazy my dear," laughed Callie, "far from it, and I know crazy, I was crazy. Alex, he loves crazy, Owen he loves, recently, crazy and Mark, well Mark just loves Lexie. But I, Callie Torres, do NOT love crazy. I love you, the beautiful, talented, sweet, caring, and stunningly amazing woman standing right in front of me. Arizona Robbins, I love you, and you are not crazy."

"Really?" Arizona smiled bashfully.

"Really," Callie replied grabbing Arizona's hand and continued walking to the café.

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**Thanks so much for reading, I'm currently writing the second part but if anyone has any suggestions or things they would like to see just let me know! I am always greatful for any input. Thanks again :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"We'll take our usual Jessie," smiled Arizona as they sat down in the same side of the booth.

"Sounds good," Jessie, their regular waitress, smiled as she poured two cups of coffee before heading back to the kitchen.

After sitting for a few minutes in a comfortable silence Arizona finally spoke up, "Can we not talk about this now?" She hesitantly asked while continuing to stare at their linked hands on the table, "I just want to have a nice breakfast with my amazing girlfriend, then when we get home—back to your apartment"—Arizona softly added, "we can talk about it, about everything."

"That sounds perfect," Callie said as she extracted her hand from Arizona's so she could put her arm around her instead. Pulling her girlfriend closer to her side, she added, "I would like nothing better babe."

It occurred to Callie in that moment that she loved when Arizona referred to the apartment as 'home.' She knew right then that she couldn't wait until a week from now, she was going to ask Arizona to move in when they talked about things later—she just had to make it look like she wasn't just asking because Arizona had brought it up.

Jessie returned a few minutes later and set the plates down in front of them, "Spinach and mushroom eggs benedict for you Arizona, and Callie, I have a waffle topped with blueberries, raspberries and whipped cream." She smiled, "Oops, almost forgot, here is your CranApple juice Arizona."

Callie smiled as she watched her girlfriend's face light up as the drink was set down in front of her. This is place where Callie had first learned about Arizona's weird obsession with the drink.

_It was the morning after Alex and Izzie's wedding; more importantly it was the morning after their first night-'together.' Arizona had stayed the night a few times before now but they had never gone further than some hot and heavy make out sessions. One of them would inevitably stop before going all the way and although each of them understood, it didn't make it any less frustrating._

_Finally, on the night of the wedding, they left the party early and headed to Callie's apartment. It had been a beautiful ceremony and love was obviously in the air, but with neither of them having a close connection to the couple they felt it was okay to share their congratulations, mingle for a bit and then take off._

_"So," Callie asked as they sat down on the couch, "would you like a drink, I think we have some wine left over from dinner last night."_

_"Wine sounds great, thank you Calliope." Arizona stood up and headed in the direction of Callie's bedroom, while Callie went to the kitchen.  
_

_When Arizona hadn't come back out by the time Callie had poured the wine she decided to head to her bedroom as well. After she opened the door she remained still, her mouth slightly agape, her feet frozen to the floor and the wine in her hands forgotten about. Arizona stood with her back to the door, naked from the waist up as she slowly removed her dress. _

_She wasn't even trying to make it look sexy, but God, that woman had a way about her. Arizona had no idea Callie was watching her undress until she heard Callie's breath hitch from the doorway. She turned to face the other woman, smiling slightly despite her embarrassment._

_"Calliope, um, I was just going to change into something more comfortable."_

_When Callie still didn't move, Arizona reached for the tank top she had laid out on the bed. As she was about to put it over her head, Callie's whispers from the doorway stopped her movement._

_"Don't. Please," Callie spoke, and then watched as Arizona carelessly dropped the tank top back to the bed. Arizona now stood facing Callie wearing nothing but a small pair of underwear. Callie took a cautious step forward, setting the wine glasses on dresser, but never letting her eyes lose contact with Arizona's. "You're beautiful." The statement was simple and Callie said it in nothing above a whisper, but it was all that needed to be said._

_They spent that rest of the night and the next morning in bed fully discovering each other's bodies for the first time. It was beautiful and scary and perfect. As they were lying in bed, Arizona's stomach growled and Callie let out a laugh, "clearly the pizza from last night has worn off."_

_"We have been quite busy since then Calliope," Arizona smirked as she kissed Callie's forehead. "You have got to be hungry too, why don't we go out for breakfast, I know this cute little café and they have amazing waffles."_

_"Sounds good to me, I'm just going to shower and then we can go," Callie said as she sat up and pulled the blankets with her to cover herself. She wasn't sure why she was nervous, Arizona had done some amazing things to her last night, and she clearly had to notice then that Callie was naked. Either way, she was never sure how to act the first time after sleeping with someone, so she always took the safe route—and today that meant covering herself up._

_Arizona kissed Callie's lips to bring her out of her head, and at the same time also pulled the blankets off and began to admire the beautiful woman in front of her. "It's okay Calliope; you don't have to be nervous. It's just me and what happened last night doesn't change the way I feel about you, if anything it makes me like you a little bit more." Arizona winked hoping Callie would catch her joking tone. "Come on, you don't need a shower either," she leaned in to whisper seductively in Callie's ear, "We can save that for when we get back," she then giggled and added, "Maybe if you're lucky I'll even let you sing with me." _

_Satisfied with herself, Arizona hopped out of bed and grabbed some clothes to wear to breakfast._

_"You sing, in the shower?" Callie asked with hope in her voice._

_"Wouldn't you like to know," Arizona's stomach interrupted their conversation again, "Come on Calliope or I'm going without you."_

_They made their way to the café with small talk about the wedding and work, Arizona was right-what had happened the night before hadn't changed anything. Callie felt just as comfortable with Arizona and she liked it. She smiled to herself and decided it was a feeling she knew she could get used to._

_Callie sat in the booth first and instead of sitting across from her, Arizona followed her in so they were both on the same side of the table. Callie looked at her with questioning eyes._

_"What?" Arizona asked innocently._

_Callie smiled, 'yup, she could definitely get used to this.' "Nothin."_

_The waitress appeared at their table a few minutes later, "Hello ladies, my name is Jessie and I'll be your server today. Are you guys ready to order or would you like a few minutes?"_

_Arizona looked at Callie, who nodded, "I think we are ready," Arizona continued, "I'll have the spinach and mushroom eggs benedict please and can I also get a cup of coffee?"_

_"No problem, and for you?"_

_"Um, I'm going to try a waffle with blueberries, raspberries and whipped cream." Callie smiled at Arizona before turning her attention back to the waitress, "I heard they were excellent here. Oh and can I get a coffee too please."_

_"Sure thing and you won't be disappointed with the waffle," Jessie smiled before taking a note and letting them know it would be a few minutes for their food._

_"Thanks! Oh, shoot. Jessie?"_

_The waitress turned around to look expectantly at Arizona, "I almost forgot, can I pa-lease have a glass of your CranApple juice?"_

_"You got it."_

_Arizona turned triumphantly to Callie who was looking at her with question for the second time since arriving at the café._

_"CranApple juice? Really?"_

_"Oh. My. God! Have you never had it? You HAVE to try it Calliope! It is so good, and so sweet, yum. I mean normally I don't really like cranberries, apples of course who doesn't love apples, but the two together? It's seriously better than peanut butter and jelly, better than Burt and Ernie, shoot, it's even been than beer and pizza!" _

_While Arizona ranted on about her love of CranApple juice Callie just watched in amazement. First of all, the woman hated sandwiches so peanut butter and jelly was a bad example, and Burt and Ernie, who over the age of 7 even remembers them anymore? Pizza and beer she could handle, but even that analogy was a stretch for Arizona considering she didn't even like beer that much. Callie couldn't help but smile as she watched the woman she was falling for express her love for juice._

_After Arizona's rant, their food arrived and everyone was right, the waffles were amazing. Callie tried Arizona's juice and although it was pretty good she didn't think it could live up to the 'beer and pizza' analogy Arizona had made._

_Arizona paid the bill and they made their back to Callie's apartment. Somewhere along the way Callie had grabbed Arizona's hand and intertwined their fingers. Both women smiled for no other reason than they were happy until they made it back to Callie's. _

_Arizona made a beeline for the bathroom and started the shower while Callie made her way after stopping in the kitchen. She looked at the fridge and made a mental note to buy some CranApple juice the next time she went to the store. Smiling to herself, she started to take off the t-shirt she had been wearing on her way to the bathroom._

"I love you."

Arizona looked up to find Callie smiling at her; she smiled back, "I love you too."

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**Ok, so this is not at all where I expected this chapter to go, but what can you do? I really like it and I hope you guys do too! I will continue to write and they will have their 'talk' soon. Thanks so much for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! I really hope you like the final part, it took me a while to get it down into writing and I'm still not completely satisfied with it :/ Also, sorry that it took me so long to get it posted, I have been sick and busy but here it is, enjoy:  
**

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Callie softly closed the door behind her as she followed Arizona into the apartment. She watched as her girlfriend hung her jacket up and then wandered further into the living room. "I want you to live with me."

_Crap. That was NOT smooth, way to just blurt it out Torres…maybe she didn't hear me?_

"Uh…what?" Arizona asked in confusion.

_Damn. Okay, here goes nothing._

"That didn't come out as I planned. Sorry," Callie said sheepishly.

"You just asked me to live with you, but that's not what you planned?" Arizona asked trying to understand.

"Well no, I mean yes." Callie paused to collect her thoughts. Walking closer to Arizona, she took a deep breath and looked into her girlfriend's clear blue eyes, "it is what I want, what I _have_ wanted for a long time. I just didn't plan on blurting it out like that."

"Is this because of what Cristina said? Because trust me Calliope, I'm okay with it now. Really, I was just having a bad morning." Arizona walked over to the couch and sat down with her hands between her knees. She looked out the rain stained window and watched the clouds turn gray as they rolled across the sky. _Why today?_

"Hey," Callie quietly spoke while kneeling on the floor in front of Arizona. "I know what you're thinking—_why today_? And after the shitty morning you had I can understand your doubt, but baby I love you. You have to know that I love you."

Arizona slowly turned her gaze settling on her pleading girlfriend on the floor. "Of course I know that Calliope."

"Then you have to trust me."

"I do," Arizona whispered. "I just..."

Callie took Arizona's hands in hers and brought them to her chest. "This," she said putting Arizona's hands over her heart, "this is yours. You took my heart a year and a half ago and I've never wanted it back."

Arizona smiled and Callie couldn't help but match it with one of her own before continuing, "I love you Arizona, everything about you. You are beautiful and messy and always forget where you put your reading glasses. You leave a trail of clothes behind you when you take a shower in the morning and you will only use one type of shampoo. You hate margarine but will put more butter on a piece of toast than any human should ever eat."

Callie laughed and leaned forward to kiss the amused smile off of Arizona's face.

"All of those things, Arizona, make me love you and make me want to spend every day with you. I want to know why sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night just to make a cup of tea and watch the rain pour down. I want to know why you hate birthdays, and find out where you learned to play the piano. I want to learn everything about you, I want to share my whole life with you and I want to start now."

Arizona stared longingly at Callie for a few moments before speaking. "Yes." She smiled, "I want that too."

Callie pulled herself off the floor and dragged Arizona into her bedroom. "I want to show you something."

After sitting on the bed Callie reached into the bedside table and pulled out a notebook and a few magazines. "This," she said handing Arizona the notebook, "is something that I've never shown anyone before. My thoughts, feelings, ramblings and dreams fill this notebook. Everything is dated and you should find, oh about, a year and a half ago that a certain blue eyed beauty starts to take over every page. You will also find that about two months ago I start to list different ideas of ways to ask you to move in with me."

Arizona studied the faded green notebook that now sat in her hands, the pages were tattered, folded, stained and ripped but to her it was beautiful. She was about to enter Calliope's mind, her every thought and a direct insight into a Calliope that not even she has seen. This broke all barriers, crumbled all walls and diminished any doubts that Arizona ever held against her Latina lover.

"Thank you," Arizona whispered as she leaned forward to kiss Callie. "Thank you."

"Everything is in there, and you'll read about it if you want to, but for a long time I didn't think I deserved you. I thought that you were this amazing woman who had a lapse in judgment and wanted to date me. I never thought you would love me, but when you told me you did I knew that I should hold on for as long as you let me. I fall more in love with you every day Ari, and I want to wake up next to you every morning in _our_ bed, in _our_ room."

"I love you Calliope. Sometimes I don't realize just how much I _do_ love you, but then you say something, or you look at me from across the room, or you know exactly what I want even before I do. Those are the times when I realize how much we are meant to be together. How much I love you, and how much I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

This time it was Callie who leaned in for the kiss. She smiled against Arizona's lips and mumbled, "Now that is something I can get used to." After a few minutes, Arizona remembered that Callie had pulled something else out with the notebook.

She broke away and picked up the magazines, "What are these for then?"

"Oh, those just have different things I thought we could look at to decorate maybe? I mean nothing too big; just paint colors, coffee tables and art for the walls."

Arizona smiled and sighed in contentment, "Sounds perfect. This is perfect. I was so worried; waiting for something to happen that was going to mess this up. I was afraid of moving too fast, but this feels so right."

"You know, this may come as a shock to you, but just because I want kids doesn't mean I want them tomorrow. I'm going to wait until you're ready sweetheart."

Callie pulled Arizona into her lap and loosely draped her arms around the blonde's waist. In return Arizona slung her arms over Callie's shoulders before looking into dark brown eyes, "Thank you," she said before kissing Callie again, "I know how much this means to you, and I'm working on it, I really am. It might take a year or two but I know we can do this Calliope. I know that with you, I can do anything."

The couple remained intertwined together, taking in the silence and enjoying the moment, sitting on _their_ bed. Yes, it may take a few years, and yes it may be a rough road ahead, but together they can do anything.

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**Thanks so much for reading this story. I really hope you enjoyed it :)**


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